Supplying, shipping and using large volumes of liquid egg products with extended shelf lives creates problems for both user and supplier. A supplier desires a product which is not only resistant to spoilage, but is cheaper to ship, uses less packaging than liquid whole egg, and uses less space for storage when stored by the supplier and/or user. Prior to the invention, no one has addressed the problem of not only reducing the volume of liquid whole egg being shipped to commercial users of egg products such as restaurants, but also maintaining and/or increasing the shelf life of eggs being used and shipped to large-volume users of liquid egg products. Heretofore, prior workers have cooked eggs and frozen them or have separately frozen whites and yolks. These products do not address or help those who desire to freshly cook eggs and those who do not desire to mix eggs and whites prior to cooking.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,340 to deFigueiredo et al. describes placing egg yolks and whites in separate containers for heating which will cause evaporation of water, but the heating when complete causes coagulation of the yolks and whites. Thereafter the yolks and whites are rapidly frozen. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,973 to deFigueiredo et al. which also describes heating to coagulation and thereafter freezing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,035 to Sterns et al. describes a method of manufacturing an “omelette-type” egg product where the egg whites and yolks have water added to adjust the level of water in the egg, such that the mix has from about 75–85 percent water by weight. The patent notes that whole eggs have a moisture level of about 75 weight percent and additional moisture is added to the mix. The egg product is heated to “set the egg product in the shape of a pan.” The “set product” then is frozen. U.S. Pat. No. 3,565,638 to Ziegler et al. describes adding water and gum with other ingredients to egg, pasteurizing the egg, and then freezing same. U.S. Pat. No. 3,364,037 to Mink et al. describes treating egg whites with peroxide and thereafter freezing the egg whites. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,338 to Cascione et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,249 to Forkner describes separating yolks from whites, pasteurizing the yolk and whites, freezing the yolk (see FIG. 2 at 29), and freezing the whites. U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,974 to Aref et al., together with U.K. patent 1 376 972, and Canadian Patent No. 964921 describe the fast freezing egg white, egg yolk, or egg white and yolk.